Cuddle Up With Micro Pigs At the Cafe
Coffee shops around Japan have fully embraced the concept of the animal cafe. First came pet-friendly spots, then cat and dog cafes, then all manner of creature-themed stops, including the latest craze: the pig cafe.
The thoroughly adorable Mipig Café – each fully stocked with clean and cuddly micro pigs – can be found all over the country, from Tokyo to Hiroshima. It costs 2,200 yen ($15) to spend a half hour with the pigs; do make a reservation.
What does one do with these pigs? According to the Mipig Café website (unedited): “‘Micro pig's house’ is where all micro pigs from baby ones to adult ones friendly live together, and you are a friend of them. You may want to take a nap, read books, eat some snacks etc. with your friends! Please make yourself at home and have a wonderful time!”
Of course, not everyone is on board with the enterprise. “It must be stressful to be touched and fondled by a bunch of strangers,” Sachiko Azuma, head of Tokyo-based Put an End to Animal Cruelty and Exploitation (PEACE), tells the Associated Press. “The animals have become tools for a money-making business,” she said.
It’s even worse than that, Sachiko. Besotted customers can buy a pig to go for about 200,000 yen ($1,350). Mipig says the little fellas are already toilet-trained (!) and are of course comfortable around humans. The cafe says it has sold 1,300 pigs so far.
Beyond its sparse Instagram account Mipig does not really advertise, relying instead on word-of-mouth, especially the mouths of tourists who love the place. The first Mipig Café opened in Tokyo in 2019, and has since blossomed with nine more around the country. Two more will open later this year.
It must be hard for animal-welfare groups to keep up with Japan’s coffee-shop menageries. One can also find cafes that feature birds, rabbits, or reptiles; some spots have a diverse mix that can include owls, hedgehogs, hamsters, gophers, and meerkats.
Photo credit: Eugene Hoshiko / AP Photo
